Archive for June, 2007

I had the nicest coffee last week, with my cousin EWMM. She is an English teacher in our fair city. Her school has never sounded like a fair place, and the grind of it would have most teachers running for stay-at-home something or other. She had some serious sparkle, however, as she slid her notebook of student essays across the table. Beautifully bound with pride, inspired student-drawn cover artwork. Her project studied essays from “this i believe” – reading & listening to the NPR files, then writing their own.

(The following is from the website)

What is This I Believe?

This I Believe is an international project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core valuesthat guide their daily lives. These short statements of belief, written by people from all walks of life, are archived here and featured on public radio in the United States and Canada. The project is based on thepopular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted byEdward R. Murrow.

(Mary Chapin Carpenter, one of my faves, is the banner author of the week.)

She wrote one herself, “Drive Therapy.” “A good long aimless drive can cure a lot of ails.” (Go to Rusharaound link for a hilarious story of a good long aimless drive. R, hope it cured a lot of ails.)

This is great teaching, and I am filled with admiration.

I will use the links on these home pages – see the left column – “For Educators.” Thank you EWMM for the inspiration and a great read.

This is our honeymoon destination. A huge thank you and acknowledgment to our honeymoon benefactors, S & J. You are so wonderful! And we are so excited!!!

So, a few questions, since my usual obsessive travel guide reading has given way to wedding planning. If you have been there, what were some favorite beaches, restaurants, things to do? A&F, no more procrastinating – you are the experts.

Also, island travelers, do you have favorite vacation rituals? For example, A&F have a glass of champagne after the beach – so refreshing! Coffee or a morning run? What works for you? The reason I ask is that DK & I want to enjoy every moment, but will probably not come to our post-wedding senses until it’s time to come home! And, we will never get enough of our friends and family the weekend of August 3rd, but with your great advice, we can take you with us.

I amazingly made it through this whole production at Geva without standing in the ubiquitous ladies restroom line once! Must have been the salty pre-show greek salad. Sorry, potty-talk is completely unavoidable.

A little late on this musical – but I’m downstate bound. In the meantime, we get our theater 6 years after it booms in NY. This was worth waiting for. This show has so much going for it, even the local-theater glitchies were not so important. So much to think about. Read 2001 NYT review here. The final cry of “Hail Malthus“set the show into a whole different relief for me. I had been thinking about the health care system and Michael Moore’s new movie Sicko. As I said, a lot going for it. And very, very clever.

As Little Sally says, “I don’t think too many people are going to come and see this musical.” I felt the same until last night. There’s a reason it made it on tour.

Plus, I got to spend time with my 3 Geva Divas. Dinner alfresco, a glass (2?!) of wine, and the usual lots and lots of laughs. Downstate has up-to-date theater, but it cannot hold a candle to these friendships.

Listened on the way home from LI to Anna Quindlen’s Blessings. Slow, predictable, and lovely. Resonates of “Empire Falls” without shock, awe, or out-of-the-blue tragedy. Just sad, sweet, and entirely hopeful. NYT review here. I like it when they say, ” . . . happiness is often recognized belatedly.”

Got me thinking about that title, Blessings. MINOR job setback had me screaming on Friday morning, repenting by afternoon (after some good paternal listening). As my friend E’s co-worker says “we are not holding AIDS babies here.” Then I might really have something to scream injustice about. Until then, I will count my BLESSINGS.

Yup, just over the Throg’s Neck. Welcome to LI. Now, I know I was weary, only semi-signaled, and didn’t really know if I was in the right lane, but come on buddy! Gimme a break!

So my new blog idea is this: Road Rage Recovery. People can go on and atone for their sins. I would have apologized if I had his cell number, or one of those police megaphones on my car. Instead, my half-wave was probably interpreted as my own obscenity (he WAS passing me at high speed on the right – a hanging offense upstate).

So here goes, man in white shirt, with little silver car, who I cut off on the Throg’s Neck bridge, I’m sorry, Man.